CG15 D is for Dum Spiro Spero
by Miz Em
Summary: Summer 2007 Alphabet challenge at the Numb3rs Forum. Sequel to O is for Omnes una manet nox. AU, after Janus List.  This is the 15th in what will be a series of 26. Q is for Quagmire is the 1st. There will be no further updates to this piece.


Summer 2007 Alphabet challenge at the Numb3rs Forum. Sequel to O is for Omnes una manet nox. AU, after Janus List. Part two follows.  
--

_**Dum Spiro Spero**__ - While I breathe, I hope Cicero_

Latin translation from yuni dot com, Latin Quotes and phrases  
--

Colby leaned back in his chair with a tired sigh and stretched. It had been two weeks since he'd bugged Wendy Lee's apartment, and he'd been listening to the latest recordings. _Thank God for voice activation,_ he thought moodily, _or it would drive me crazy trying to find each conversation._ He got up from his chair and did some calisthenics. _Thank God for wireless headsets too._

Luke laughed softly to himself when he came into the computer room and saw Colby doing calisthenics. _The poor kid just hates being cooped up indoors,_ he thought sympathetically. He leaned against the doorjamb and crossed his arms, patiently waiting for Colby to notice him.

When Colby finally did notice Luke, he got up from the floor where he had been in the middle of a set of push-ups and stopped the recording with a sigh of relief.

"I could have killed you and you wouldn't have been the wiser," Luke looked amused.

"That would put me out of this particular misery anyway," Colby replied sourly. But he brightened, "You look like you're feeling better."

"That might just be the prospect of digging into one of Pierre's care packages," Luke laughed when he saw Colby brighten even more. "That can wait. We should dig in while it's hot."

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Colby pulled the headset off and followed Luke eagerly out of the room. He sank into his seat at the table and inhaled the aroma with a sigh of pleasure. "That smells like heaven."

"Like you know anything about how it should smell," Luke said dryly.

"I think I'm learning rather well," Colby told him indignantly. He grinned wickedly, "If not, it's the fault of the teacher." He laughed at the look that Luke leveled at him. The first mouthful had Colby closing his eyes with pleasure, "I sure am glad he decided to feed us regularly." He opened his eyes and chuckled, "Or did you ask him to?"

"I most certainly did," Luke retorted. "It was self defense. I didn't think I could look at another bowl of cereal or another piece of what you call lasagna. I can't believe it's the same recipe that Hannah uses. It certainly didn't taste anything like the lasagna she serves. I wasn't up to cooking, and you certainly can't."

"You only had cereal twice!" Colby protested.

"That was two times too many," Luke said with distaste, shaking his head at Colby's laughter.

They enjoyed most of the meal in silence, both savoring the delectable creation of a master chef.

"But I should probably start cooking soon," Luke said reluctantly. "We don't want to draw attention to ourselves. Pierre is hardly inconspicuous."

Colby sighed, but Luke was right. Still, it was a reminder of the fact that they were in hiding. Which always brought Hannah to his mind. Not that he didn't already think of her constantly, but it usually wasn't as difficult during the day, since he rarely saw her during the day. The nights had been long and lonely.

"Soon, Colby. We're getting close to getting what we need, I can feel it," Luke tried to reassure him. Then he sighed as well, wondering if he was trying to convince Colby or himself. Briskly, he turned their mind back to business, "Anything good from the recordings?"

Nodding while he swallowed his last mouthful, Colby took the time to take a swig of water before he answered. "Amazingly, yes. Amidst the hours and hours of chat about clothing, makeup, shopping, jewelry, and other personal stuff I'd rather not be privy to, there were several calls that sounded like they were arrangements for a meet this week. That's if I remember my codes right. Sounds like something large is going down. I think it's set for Thursday at the Lakers' game. I'm going to follow her, just to be sure."

"Okay, I'll make sure we both get tickets for the game. I'll wait at the game, you follow her."

--

Sean dropped into his own bed in his own condo with a happy sigh. Despite the fact that he'd been walking for a week, the doctors had refused to discharge him and Steele had backed them up. The only bright spot in all of it was Hannah's daily visits to him. That and the fact that Mr. Eppes was recovering satisfactorily. He had gone to see him whenever he wasn't working or in physical therapy, and while Mr. Eppes was recovering well, he tired very easily. Still, it always seemed to cheer him up whenever Sean brought out the playboy bunny playing cards.

He groaned when his cell phone rang. _Just five more minutes,_ he thought grumpily, but answered it cheerfully enough.

"It must feel good to be home," Fiona said with a hint of a laugh in her voice.

He laughed, "It does, indeed."

"I'm sorry to crack the whip, but I need your help here at the office. Can you come in?"

"Anything for you, love," Sean said lightly.

Fiona laughed, "You're such a schmoozer." She hung up.

Sighing, he rolled off the bed and got his act together. It didn't take him very long to pull into the parking lot of the office. He saw Steele pull in just as he got out of the car, and decided to wait for him.

"You look chipper," Steele said with amusement when he caught up with Sean.

Sean grinned, "It would have been nice to spend a few more minutes in my own home, but it's good to be out of the hospital."

"Here to help Fiona out?" Steele was sorry that Sean hadn't had been able to spend some time at home, but that was just a fact of life with DDFS, and he saw no need to touch on it.

"Yes, she called. I'm glad enough to be out and about though."

The two men discussed other agency matters on their way up to the offices, and Steele laughed softly when Fiona trapped Sean the moment they stepped into the office, with nary a greeting for him. He left them to it, glad that at least one of his agents had fully recovered from their ordeal.

"What do you have that's so urgent, Fiona?" Sean drawled lazily as he dropped into a chair.

Fiona glanced around warily to make sure Steele wasn't still in listening range, "Luchenko has sent me recordings and papers about Kannin's involvement with the Kremlin." She nodded sadly when she saw the light dawn in Sean's eyes. "I need some help going through it before I bring it to Steele. I have hopes that it's not as bad as it seems, but if it is, then I'd like to do what I can to soften the blow."

"Alright then," Sean said quietly, "Let's get started."

--

"You look a little better, Mr. Eppes," Hannah said shyly when she stopped by to see him.

Alan smiled, reaching for her hand, "Now how many times do I have to tell you to call me Alan?"

She laughed, "I'm sorry. How are you feeling, Alan?"

"Much better, now that you're laughing," Alan told her with no small amount of satisfaction. _She's lovely when she laughs,_ Alan thought with a smile. The smile dimmed a little when he remembered Sean's riveted gaze at her whenever she smiled or laughed in his presence. Unrequited love was a very sad thing, and Alan knew Hannah to be completely in love with Colby. He didn't think she'd even noticed Sean in that way, attractive though the boy was. "Any more news about Colby?" He regretted the sadness in her eyes when she replied.

"No, not yet. And it's been two weeks since Dr. Brennan discovered from examining the skeletons that the bodies in the antique store didn't belong to Colby and Luke." Hannah paused, then said softly, "It's the nights that are the hardest."

Alan patted her hand, "I understand, my dear. Be grateful that they're not dead though."

"Oh, I am, I am!" Hannah smiled again, "I heard the nurses say that they'll be discharging you soon? I'm sure Don and Charlie are thrilled!"

"I'm not so sure about that. And I'm not so sure I'm thrilled," Alan said dryly. "It will be difficult to get around in the house, and my sons aren't exactly the nurturing type."

Hannah giggled, "I understand. I heard Millie and Amita talking about that though. I think they've talked Don and Charlie into hiring a nurse to help take care of you. And Millie has already worked out a schedule for getting food to you at mealtimes."

His expression softened at the discussion about Millie, "She's been wonderful and supportive. I don't know how my boys would have managed it all without her organizational help these last few weeks."

"I'm sure they would have found a way," she said kindly. "Their hearts are in the right places, and they're both smart, even though it's in different ways. They would eventually have figured it out."

"Yes," Alan said dryly, "but I'm not so sure I would have survived until they did figure it out." He grinned with delight when she burst into giggles. "Did you stop by to see Sean?"

"Oh, it's embarrassing, but I did," Hannah blushed. "Only to find out he'd already been discharged this morning. I've become so used to stopping by to see him. He makes me laugh." She laughed now, thinking about it.

"Helps to laugh, doesn't it?" Alan murmured, thinking how bittersweet it must be for Sean.

"It really does." Hannah squeezed his hand. "But he must be back to work now, and I probably won't see him quite as much. I'm sure Steele will keep him too busy to think of something as unimportant as making me laugh." She looked a little wistful at the thought.

_I'm not so sure about that,_ Alan thought sympathetically. _I think Sean would move mountains for you._

--

"Have you had any unauthorized access to your computer systems, Don?" Steele asked him in what had become daily meetings between the two agencies.

Don looked up with a frown, "Not that I know of, but I'll have the tech people look into it. And I'll ask Charlie and Amita to look as well. Why do you ask?"

"I believe someone is accessing our systems from the outside," Steele said with a faint frown. "But the system access time is short each time, and it looks like it's coming from different places. I've just asked our tech people to look into it, but perhaps Charlie and Amita could look at our systems too." He smiled at Don's surprise. "I certainly believe in using the best possible people for each task."

Don chuckled, "Just don't let Charlie hear you say that. He'll be unbearable." He sobered, "What do you think is happening?"

"I don't know," Steele said thoughtfully, tapping his lips with his fingers. "I'm afraid it might be Spencer. I think he had access from when he was Chief of Staff. His user id has been locked out, but I can't quite be sure that he didn't have a back door into the system."

"Are you thinking that's how your agency was attacked? With inside information into each case?" Don asked sharply.

"I think there's every possibility that it did," Steele said slowly. "It's rather massive in scale, and it boggles my mind that one person could have enough influence across the spectrum of cases that we're investigating, but I really don't see any other way something like that could happen across the board without inside information."

"Unless you have a mole," Don said.

Steele stiffened, but sighed. It was a possibility, and he couldn't rule it out. "I hope not. But if it is a mole, I will make him, or her, pay for all of it. And pay dearly."

Don shivered at the iciness in Steele's voice. They had established a good enough working relationship in the last few months to where Don rarely saw the icy Steele. But he remembered now. "Ah, speak of the devil," he slanted a wicked grin in his brother's direction as Charlie walked in the door.

Steele chuckled, the banter between the brothers never failed to amuse him. It made him a little wistful; it was how it used to be between Breston and himself. But he pushed that out of his mind. After all, their relationship was on the mend, and it would take time. Steele brought his attention back to the brothers as Don began to tell Charlie about the possible hacker access to the DDFS systems.

"Yes, of course, I would be happy to help," Charlie told Steele. "May I bring Amita? She has a great deal of knowledge in that field as well." He smiled with pleasure when Steele nodded.

"Just make sure Amita doesn't catch you drooling over Fiona," Don broke up into laughter at the disgusted look Charlie gave him.

"Oh, shut up!" Charlie told him. "It's not like you weren't knocked out by her either. Colby and Sean told me." He turned to Steele when he noticed the raised eyebrow. "Don likes to give me a hard time about the first time I saw Fiona."

"I thought his jaw was going to drop through the floor," Don was still laughing.

Steele chuckled, "She's definitely a stunning woman." But he felt compelled to add, though mildly, "You do realize she's dating Luke? Luke's a dangerous man to cross."

Charlie sighed, "Don't start. Don, Colby and Sean all said the same thing to me. I was just looking, okay?"

"Okay," Steele said in a placating tone. "But don't feel bad, after all, that's her job." He continued when Charlie looked puzzled, "To attract men."

"How does Luke deal with that?" Charlie asked before Don could stop him.

"Not very well, at times, but he mostly manages to keep it under control," Steele said mildly. "I haven't had to hide any bodies for him, professors or otherwise."

There was a split second of silence before Don broke into helpless laughter. Steele grinned at a disgruntled Charlie, "Sorry, I couldn't resist."

"I didn't think you had a sense of humor," Don told Steele, still gasping from the laughter.

"That wasn't very funny," Charlie said stiffly.

"No, it wasn't, and I'm sorry," Steele apologized. "I don't usually joke like this." He hesitated, then said slowly, "I guess I miss the banter with my brother more than I realized."

"It would kill me now if I couldn't talk and joke with Charlie," Don told them. He smiled wryly at Charlie's surprised look. "I should tell you that I care about you more often, I guess."

Aware that the conversation had taken a turn that did not include him, Steele murmured his goodbyes and left.

--

"Alright, it really didn't take very long to find the hacker," Charlie told everyone. They were in the DDFS conference room. Fiona and Sean had been working at one end, while Charlie and Amita had worked at another. Steele had joined them, as had Don and his team.

"The hacker did route his access over several different servers to hide the origin, but he wasn't an expert, by any stretch of the imagination," Amita continued. "It looks like he got into DDFS, FBI and several other federal agency computers as well."

"That just doesn't seem quite right, Charlie," David told him. He held his hands up to sooth the hurt look in Charlie's face. "I just mean that it's strange the guy's good enough to hack into all these federal agency systems, but not good enough to hide his tracks."

"That's because he didn't hack in. He had a valid login ID," Charlie answered.

"What?" Don was outraged.

"A valid login ID to all those systems?" Steele leaned back with a puzzled frown. "Perhaps it really is a mole," he murmured.

"What do you mean?" Don narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"DDFS agents have access to all federal agency systems," Sean told him.

"All DDFS agents?" Megan asked softly.

"All of us do, yes," Steele was curt. He wasn't about to go into the need for it. "Whose login was used?"

"Uh, John Smith," Charlie looked embarrassed.

Steele frowned, "There's no agent by that name, past or present. Are you certain?"

"If he says its John Smith, its John Smith," Don was starting to become belligerent again. Steele's curt tone, and the knowledge that DDFS had access to all federal agency systems was too much for him to stomach.

"What about a location, Charlie?" Fiona's husky voice drew Charlie's attention.

Aware that Amita had stiffened, Charlie tried to maintain a level tone, but ended up stumbling over his first few words, "Um, yes, I, ah, yes, we have a location on them." He looked pleadingly at Amita, who ignored him. He sighed, turning helplessly to his brother. But Don was too busy with the matter at hand.

"We'll put a raid together. Is there any kind of pattern to their access, Charlie?" Don began to make plans.

"Yes, in the early mornings, around 6am and at night around midnight."

The forlorn note in Charlie's voice caught Sean's attention. He glanced curiously at the two professors, and realized what had happened. His mouth softened in sympathy. When the others left to plan the midnight raid, he sauntered over to Amita. "He doesn't mean anything by it, you know," he told her gently. "And she's quite happy with her own man."

Amita remained silent for a moment, then sighed, "I guess I know. It's irrational, but it made me jealous that she affected him that way."

Sean grinned, "There's no shame in being jealous. Just don't take it out on the poor guy."

She smiled, "Why are you doing this?"

"I like him," Sean told her amiably.

"Well, thank you," Amita told him and went in search of Charlie.

"Your good deed for the day?" Fiona looked amused.

"For the century, I hope," Sean replied lightly. "Why were you eavesdropping?"

"I was going to do the same thing, actually, but I think it turned out better coming from you." Fiona chuckled. "He's rather like a puppy dog. I'd hate for him to get hurt for something that isn't his fault."

"Somehow, I don't think he'd be too thrilled to be compared to a puppy," Sean said dryly as they went in to help with the planning for the night's raid.

--

"Does that stuff make you itch?" Colby asked curiously as Luke settled into the chair next to his. He had just finished listening to the last recording from the bug in Wendy Lee's apartment. Luke had just come in to do some more research on the Chinese.

"The prostheses? No, I guess I'm used to them by now," Luke smiled. The wrinkles in the prostheses made him look a good thirty years older than he was.

"I'm used to looking at them too, Pops. It's going to be quite a shock to me when you go back to looking like normal."

"Normal is overrated," Luke said mildly.

Colby chuckled, "But Fiona likes normal."

Luke rolled his eyes and started logging in. He paused and frowned, "Did you hear that?"

Remaining silent but on the alert now, Colby listened as he reached for his handgun.

Luke reached for his own and signaled for Colby to go to the front of the house, while he went to the back.

Both men moved silently out of the computer room, but before they could go much further, both the front and back doors were smashed in and there were shouts of "FBI!" and "Hands in the air!"

Luke's lips twitched in amusement when he saw Steele, "Is this when I wave the white flag and say we're alive?"

Steele narrowed his eyes at the familiar voice, then laughed, "Luke." Unable to control his own joy, he hugged his friend. "I almost didn't recognize you under all that. I take it that's Colby they've cuffed over there?"

"Yes, it is," came Colby's disgruntled voice. "I swear, Don just likes to cuff me."

"I don't think I'm touching that one," Sean said, laughing at the looks on both Don's and Colby's faces. He turned to Colby, "Well, at least Hannah will be happy to see your sorry ass."

"Luke?" Fiona came into the room from checking the other areas of the house and homed in on his voice. "Luke? Oh, God, Luke!" She threw herself into his arms seemingly unaware that he didn't look anything like Luke.

"Fiona," Luke said on a soft sigh. "You're all right then? I wasn't sure." Then he didn't have a chance to say more when she threw her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss.

"She must really love him, to kiss him with all that gunk on his face," Colby said in amusement. The others laughed with him. He sighed and massaged his wrists when he was released from his cuffs, "Did you have to cuff me so tightly?" He chuckled when Don ignored him. Then laughed when David grabbed him for a bear hug. "Damn but it's good to see all of you!"

"John Smith?" Steele said dryly when Fiona let Luke come up for air.

"Sorry," Luke said, but he didn't look in the least bit sorry. "I set that up years ago, when we were both still in the field. Just in case we needed it. It finally came in handy."

Steele sighed, "I should have Tech do a sweep on those logins." He eyed them sternly, "When were you going to check back in?"

"As soon as we got what information we could from the bug we planted on Wendy Lee," Luke answered. He began to peel off the prostheses. Fascinated, Fiona helped him.

"The Chinese!" Steele frowned. "Alright, we'll gather back at the office to debrief first thing in the morning." He glanced at Colby and his expression softened, "There's a young lady who will be very happy to see you. Don't keep her waiting." He watched everyone as they turned to go, the happy expressions on all their faces were a balm to his own soul. His eyes sharpened when they fell on the bereft expression in Sean's face. He raised an eyebrow when his eyes met Sean's, and saw him smooth his face into an expressionless mask.

"It's nothing," Sean said softly. "All that matters is Hannah's happiness." He turned and strode away quickly before Steele could say anything else.

"Oh, Sean," was all Steele could think of to say. But his heart ached for a man who deserved more.

--

"I'm coming!" Hannah called out when the doorbell rang. She frowned when it rang again. "Alright, already! I said I was coming... Oh!" She stared at Colby in stunned surprise when she finally got the door open. "Oh, Colby!" She threw herself against him with a sob. "You're safe!" She slipped her arms around him and kissed him.

He tightened his hold on her and deepened the kiss. Both were completely lost to the world, unaware that they were outside the front door.

"Take it inside, Hannah! Unless you want that luscious man of yours in a sandwich between you and me." A gravelly laugh came from an upstairs window, as the two of them broke apart.

Hannah laughed and waved, "I'm not sure we can keep up with you, Mrs. Bowen!" But take it inside they did.

"The woman's got to be close to eighty," Colby muttered against Hannah's neck. He started undressing Hannah the moment she shut the door.

She giggled when he nibbled at a sensitive spot. "Is this all you think about?"

"No," he grinned as he looked up at her, "I think about these other spots too." And proceeded to demonstrate.

Her laughter turned into moans, and he swung her into his arms and headed for the bedroom. As far as he was concerned, they weren't going to get any sleep that night.

--

Fiona nestled against Luke with a soft sigh. "I'm so sorry about everything. You wouldn't have had to come for me if I hadn't been careless."

He tightened the arm he had around her and pressed a kiss against her temple, "It doesn't matter. All that matters is that you're safe."

"I was so sure you'd perished in that fire," Fiona said thoughtfully. "But Hannah never had any doubt that Colby was still alive. She's so strong; it almost puts me to shame. After all, I'm supposed to be the tough agent."

_Not so tough,_ Luke thought tenderly as he laced his fingers through her hair. "_Dum Spiro Spero_," he murmured.

"'While I breathe, I hope'? Yes, that fits her to a T."

After a few quiet minutes, Fiona looked up at him through her eyelashes with a sultry smile on her face.

"What are you up to now?" Luke couldn't help smiling at her. It had been a happy homecoming for him, something he'd never had before.

"If you'll just lean back, I'll show you," she purred.

Before long, the only sounds in the room were Luke's moans of pleasure.

--

Sean gazed bleakly out the window of his condo. The last time he stood at the window it was raining outside. It was clear tonight, or as clear as Los Angeles ever got. He tried not to think about what Hannah and Colby were doing. Colby was a man after all and they were deeply in love.

Restlessly, he prowled around the condo. He'd already hit the home gym, but mindful of the doctor's instructions, he was careful not to overdo it. If he didn't need a clear head in the morning, he would hit the Irish whiskey again, though he knew that the whiskey would only numb the pain temporarily.

He dropped into his bed and stretched out, fully clothed. Then slipping his hand into his pocket, he drew out a scarf that Hannah had left behind in his hospital room one day. He inhaled the scent that still lingered in the scarf, a scent that was uniquely Hannah. Slowly, he calmed his mind and relaxed each individual part of his body, and eventually, he fell asleep, with her scarf still clutched in his hand.

--

A/N:

I'm really glad to finally get them all back together. Now things can start happening again:-)

It took me a long time to write this one, because I kept wanting to complete the last letter instead. I've written the last section of the last letter, and I'm happy with how it turned out.

Now I know who lives and who dies... evil cackle


End file.
